R. Marc Kantrowitz, The Daily Record Newswire
As the first jolts of electricity bolted through his slight body, the ill-fitting mask that had been placed over his small head shot off as if propelled by rocket fuel.
A contorted face with tear-filled eyes and saliva slowly dripping from the corner of his quivering mouth stared at the witnesses viewing the execution. In a few minutes it was over.
The officials took the boy from the chair, grabbed the Bible and books that had propped him up, and hauled him away to be disposed of. The weight of the body gave little resistance. At 14, George Stinney had not yet grown into a man. Barely 5 feet tall and weighing only 95 pounds, he would grow no more.
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Perhaps as a tragic portent of things to come, George Junius Stinney Jr. was born during the month and year of the great stock market crash: October 1929. Surrounded by a supportive and loving family in a small house, he grew to be an inquisitive student who did well in school and showed an aptitude for art.
His father worked at the local lumber company in the small mill town of Alcolu, South Carolina. The Stinney family, like others, worked hard, scratching out a living and praying for an end to the World War.
All seemed to be going relatively well until March 1944, when tragedy and horror and injustice paid the small town a violent visit.
On the afternoon of the 24th, 11-year-old Betty June Binnicker and her 8-year-old friend, Mary Emma Thames, went flower-picking in some local fields. As they often did, they shared a single bike, riding and laughing together in the warmth of an early spring day.
Passing the Stinney house, Betty June yelled out to George and his sister Katherine, who were playing in their front yard. Despite the difference in their races, the kids all knew each other.
"We're looking for maypops. Do you know where they are?" Katherine indicated she did not, and the two girls continued on their way.
When the usually responsible girls failed to return home at dusk, their parents grew concerned. Word quickly spread. As minutes turned into hours, more and more people joined the frantic search. Soon hundreds were scouring the area.
The following morning, at 7:30, panic turned into revulsion when two bodies were found submerged in a large, mud-filled ditch. Their heads had been smashed in.
Either an innocent remark by George, who while searching had mentioned that he had seen the girls, or the revelation by someone else that the victims had been seen with him, drove the police to the Stinney household.
George was quickly whisked away, locked in a room, and interrogated by several white officers. A confession was soon elicited. To be alone to have sex with Betty June, he killed Mary Emma. When Betty June resisted, he killed her as well. The murder weapon, a 14-inch railroad spike, was found at the scene, to where George led them.
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The shock and sadness over the brutal deaths quickly turned to a frenzy of revenge and bloodletting. George's father was fired and his family threatened, forcing them to flee and hide. George was moved to avoid a lynch mob.
As the terrified boy sat alone in his cell, away from all family and friends, his only help came in the form of 30-year-old Charles Plowden, a tax lawyer with political aspirations.
On April 24, more than 1,500 people jammed into the local courthouse to ensure that justice was meted out. An all-white male jury was selected in two hours. At 2:30, the trial started. Two hours later it was over.
Plowden asked no questions on cross-examination and called no witnesses. He never pointed out the lack of any physical evidence, the questionable circumstances of the confession, an alibi, and the impracticality of the slightly built defendant committing the crime.
His sole defense was that, despite the law that an adult was anyone 14 or older, the defendant was too young to be held responsible.
The jury took 10 minutes to find George guilty. The judge sentenced him to death. No appeal was filed because Plowden thought there was nothing to appeal.
Despite calls for leniency, none was forthcoming. On June 16, 81 days after the killing of the girls, the diminutive boy was strapped into the electric chair, making him the youngest juvenile ever to be put to death.
Epilogue
Motions filed nearly 70 years later requested that his conviction be vacated, arguing that a deathbed confession of the real murderer, a white male from a well-known, prominent family, exonerated George.
Arguments were heard in January 2014 before another overflowing crowd. The judge who heard the motion acknowledged that the trial had been a travesty. Regardless, she observed that "[e]ven if we retry Mr. Stinney, what would be the result? We can't bring George Stinney back."
The motion was allowed last December.
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Judge R. Marc Kantrowitz sits on the Massachusetts Appeals Court. He can be contacted at rmarckantrowitz@comcast.net.
Published: Tue, Mar 31, 2015
